Overview
A small automation project that replaced a repetitive, manual payroll preparation routine with a structured Excel VBA workflow.
Context
Payroll preparation involved repeating the same set of formatting and reconciliation steps each cycle. The steps were well understood, but doing them by hand took time and left room for small copy-and-paste mistakes.
Problem
The work was slow, easy to interrupt, and dependent on remembering the exact order of steps. Manual handling of the same figures in several places created opportunities for errors that were hard to spot afterwards.
Approach
I mapped the routine into clear, ordered stages, then wrote VBA macros to handle the repetitive formatting, checks, and reconciliation. I focused on keeping the logic readable and adding simple validation so the workflow would flag obvious problems rather than pass them through silently.
Tools
Excel and VBA.
Outcome / current status
Completed and used in practice. The routine now takes noticeably less manual effort, and the structured checks reduce the chance of small handling errors. I’ve kept the description general here and avoided any confidential figures or internal detail.
What I learned
Most of the value came from understanding the process properly before writing any code. Automating a messy routine just produces a faster mess — mapping it first made the VBA straightforward and the result easier to trust.